Among hemipteran insects which is the most important insect vector of plant viruses, small brown planthopper, Laodelphax striatellus, transmits the rice stripe virus (RSV) causing rice stripe disease. For effective control of RSV, it is important to understand interaction between RSV and L. striatellus. Therefore, in this study, expressed sequence tag (EST) databases were generated based on 454 GS-FLX pyrosequencing for comparative transcriptome analysis between nonviruliferous and RSV-viruliferous L. striatellus. By comparing the two EST libraries, we showed that 108 host genes were significantly up-regulated and 28 host genes were significantly down-regulated in viruliferous insects. Interestingly, genes encoding ribosomal proteins were mainly up-regulated in viruliferous L. striatellus, whereas genes related to translation were concentrated in the downregulated cohort. These RSV-dependently regulated genes may have important function in the behavior of planthopper or the transmission of RSV.

In the transcriptome surveys of Laodelphax striatellus, several cDNA sequences showed a high level of similarities to the insect picorna-like virus genomes. Interestingly, there was no sequence similarity between picorna-like virus sequences from the RSV-viruliferous and those from the non-viruliferous L. striatellus. Picorna-like virus from the non-viruliferous L. striatellus was a geographical isolate of Himetobi P virus (HiPV). The genome of the HiPV was 9,272 nt in length excluding the poly(A) tail and contained two open reading frames (ORFs), which were separated by a 176 nt intergenic region that functions as an internal ribosome entry site (IRES). The 5' ORF encodes the non-structural proteins and the 3' ORF encodes the capsid proteins. The partial genomic RNA of the picorna-like virus from the RSV-viruliferous L. striatellus, LsPV-2, was 8,769 nt in length excluding the poly(A) tail and contained a single, large open reading frame (nt 1–8,535) encoding a 2,845 aa polyprotein. In terms of sequence similarity, identity, and genome organization, LsPV-2 resembled insect picornalike viruses belonging to the family Iflaviridae. A phylogenetic analysis based on RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) sequence showed that LsPV-2 was most closely related to the deformed wing virus (DWV). The HiPV and LsPV-2 were incompatible each other in L. striatellus, suggesting that these two picorna-like viruses may have important functions in transmission of the RSV.

본 연구는 LPS로 유도된 RAW 264.7 세포에서 다양한 약용식품으로 사용되고 있는 올리브 잎과 가지 추출물의 항염증 효과를 확인하였다. 올리브 잎과 가지 추출물은 각각 RAW 264.7 세포에 대하여 세포독성을 나타내지 않았고, LPS 자극에 의한 NO 및 PGE2 생성을 농도 의존적으로 억제했다. 또한, 올리브 추출물은 LPS 자극으로 분비된 TNF-α, IL-1β 및 IL-6의 전염증성 cytokine의 분비량을 억제하였으며, 특히 200 μg/mL 농도에서 올리브 가지 추출물이 잎 추출물 보다 IL-6를 억제하는 것으로 나타났다. 대표적인 염증 관련 신호 전달 경로 인자인 iNOS 및 COX-2의 발현을 검토한 결과 올리브 추출물은 iNOS의 발현을 농도의존적으로 현저히 감소시키는 것으로 관찰되었으나, 각각의 올리브 추출물이 COX-2 발현에는 영향을 미치지 않은 것으로 관찰되었다. 이와 같은 결과는 올리브 각 부위별 추출물은 모두 iNOS 및 NO 조절 경로를 조절하는 것으로 사료되나 iNOS 및 COX-2 단백질 발현은 병립적이지 않을 수 있음을 제시하고 있다. 본 연구 결과로 올리브 추출물이 독성과 부작용이 적은 항염증 효능을 가진 기능성 화장품 소재로써 개발 가능성이 있다고 사료된다.

Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) seeds have long been clinically used in Korea to promote bone formation and prevent osteoporosis. In addition, the safflower buds (SB) were found to have more useful functional ingredients than safflower seed. Thus, we investigated the preventive effects of SB diet in ovariectomized (OVX) rats. The rats were divided into five groups; sham operated group, OVX alone group, OVX plus 17β-estradiol (E2 10 ㎍/㎏, i.p.) and OVX plus SB diet feeding group (0.3% or 1%). Feeding of SB diet (0.3% or 3%) to OVX rats markedly increased trabecular formation in femur compared to OVX rats. Feeding of SB diet (0.3% or 3%) to OVX rats also decreased TRAP activity compared to OVX rats. These results suggest that SB diets have bone sparing effects by the decrease of osteoclast activity. We also observed that OVX rats fed with SB diet (0.3% or 3%) exhibited the decrease of calcium and phosphorus in serum compared to OVX-induced rats. Therefore, SB may be beneficial for the patients of osteoporosis, especially in postmenopausal women.

Mungbean (Vigna radiata) is a fast-growing, warm-season legume crop that is primarily cultivated in developing countries of Asia. We constructed a draft genome sequence of mungbean to facilitate genome research into the subgenus Ceratotropis and to enable a better understanding of the evolution of leguminous species. The draft genome sequence covers 80% of the estimated genome, of which 50.1% consists of repetitive sequences. In total, 22,427 high confidence protein-coding genes were predicted. Based on the de novo assembly of additional wild mungbean species, the divergence of what was eventually domesticated and the sampled wild mungbean species appears to have predated domestication. Moreover, the de novo assembly of a tetraploid Vigna species (Vigna reflexo-pilosa var. glabra) provided genomic evidence of a recent allopolyploid event. To further study speciation, we compared de novo RNA-seq assemblies of 22 accessions of 18 Vigna species and protein sets of Glycine max and Cajanus cajan. The species tree was constructed by a Bayesian Markov chain Monte Carlo method using highly confident orthologs shared by all 24 accessions. The present assembly of V. radiata var. radiata will facilitate genome research and accelerate molecular breeding of the subgenus Ceratotropis.

“Jokyoung”, a new bread making wheat cultivar, was developed from the cross between “Seri 82”, a hard white wheat from CIMMYT, Mexico and “Keumkang”, a hard white wheat with high milling rate and early maturing from Korea by National Institute of Crop Sci

Effects of ambient and elevated ~textrmCO2 and high temperature, and their interactions with zero and applied nitrogen supply (NN-no nitrogen and AN-applied nitrogen) were studied on soybean (Glycine max L.) in 2001. In this experiment, elevated ~textrmCO2 (650 ~mu~textrmmol.~textrmmol-1 ) and temperature (+5~circ ) increased total dry mass at final harvest by 125% and 119% and seed weight per plant by 57% and 105% for NN and AN plants, respectively. Although the influence of temperature and temperature x ~textrmCO2 were not significant, the influences of ~textrmCO2 concentration and temperature x ~textrmCO2 concentration were significant on total dry weight and seed weight, respectively. In particular, seed weight per plant was increased, while weight per one hundred seed weight was decreased with elevated ~textrmCO2 and temperature. The N supply increased biomass and seed weight per soybean plants. The results of this study suggest that the long-term adaptation of soybean growth at an elevated ~textrmCO2 concentration and high temperature might potentially result in a increase in dry matter production and yield.